Searching for grace

A man was hiking over the beautiful snowy Alps, along the way a violent storm suddenly appeared and the man had no chance to take shelter, he was trapped right in the eye of the storm. The snow storm was so intense that he could not see a thing; he could not even see his hand in front of his face. In desperation he tried to use his mobile phone, and to his amazement he could still get phone reception to make a phone call. He called a close friend, he did not know what his friend could possible do for him, but in hope he called anyway.

His friend, reading one of his favourite books in front of the open fire and his lovely wife preparing dinner for him, picked up the phone. On the other end of the phone he listened to his friend share his emotions, his fear and confusion, he was walking aimlessly in the worst storm he has ever been caught in, and he had no idea how he would make his way through it.

“Just walk east!” his friend yelled down the phone. “Just walk east! If you just walk east you will easily get out of the storm!” Meanwhile the man could not see a thing, only a blur, he was confused, he was already aware that if he walked east he would find shelter from the storm, he wasn’t arguing that. His problem was he had no idea which way east was! He could not see anything! He was completely incapable of doing anything to get himself out of the storm.

Meanwhile, he tried to explain this to his friend, but his friend just keep yelling to him ‘just walk east!’ His friend, warm and comfortable at home, could not understand why his friend could not do this one simple thing ‘Just walk east!’

Meanwhile his friend was still stuck in the storm, he tried to explain that he was not arguing that walking east is what he should do; his problem was he did not know how to walk east! Which way was east? West? North? South? He was trapped, nothing was in his control, he did not know what to do, and his friends advise, although well meaning, was only creating more fear in his heart.

“Just walk east! Stop making excuses and just start walking east and you will find shelter from the storm!” His friend yelled again, getting more frustrated; eventually his friend hung up the phone and thought to him self ‘You can’t help someone who won’t help themselves’. Warm and safe in his lovely home, his friend picked his book back up and continued to enjoy his evening.

Meanwhile his friend was left in the storm. He was lonely, fearful, and hopeless. He continued to wander, and the storm just kept getting worst. He felt so depressed, so misunderstood, so lost. In desperation he decided to try to call another friend, what could his other friend do for him? He did not know, but in hope he called.

As his friend picked up the phone the man began to retell his situation; he cried, he was broken, he was trapped in the storm, he could not do anything, he could not escape or find shelter. “Remember you are not alone” his friend yelled down the phone. “What ever you do don’t forget you are not alone!”

The man stood in the storm, the tried to understand what his friend was trying to tell him, what did he mean? His friend continued in desperation to remind him that he was not alone. “What do you mean I’m not alone?” his friend cried? “I’m completely alone! I’m in a storm and I have no power to change anything and I’m incapable of finding my way out!”

The whole time he spoke to his friend, never once did his friend try to give him instructions on how he could get out of the storm in his own strength, his friend just keep reminding him he was not alone. Again the man asked his friend “What do you mean I’m not alone?”

“Remember when you started the journey across the mountains” his friend said, “Do you remember when the weather was beautiful and calm?” His friend thought back, yes he remembered! “Do you remember you did not start this journey on your own?” Again his friend thought back, yes he remembered! He remembered that he started the journey with a guide, a seasoned mountain guide. He started the journey with a professional guide who knew every corner of the mountain, who had guided other climbers through storms even worst than the one he was trapped in now.

“Do you remember you’re not alone?” His friend cried down the phone once more. “Yes I remember!” The man said. He remembered he started the journey with a guide! His friend keep encouraging him “Remember that your guide is still with you! He’s still right beside you, he has not left you! Let him take hold of you hand and he will lead you out of the storm!”

The man hung up the phone. He held out his hand and cried out for his guide to lead him to safety. He could not see anything, he could not see his guide, he could only have faith his guide did not leave him when the storm began. As he stood in the storm, completely blind and unable to help himself, he felt the beautiful hand of the one he knew could save him from the storm; it was his guide!

His guide was still with him! When the storm first began, it had taken the man by such surprise and had come upon him so suddenly that, in his fear and confusion, he forgot his guide was still with him!

“I don’t know the way out” the man cried to his guide. He felt the guide embrace him, in the deathly cold of the storm he held him close, it made him feel a deep warmth inside himself, a warmth he almost forgot existed. The guides warm embrace comforted the man, and his heart felt strengthened, even in the storm.

The storm was so heavy the man still could not see the face of his guide, he could not see anything, he only heard the voice of his guide, the one who was capable of doing what we could not do, the only one who could save him.

The man could not see anything, he felt so weak, and in himself there was no strength left. He could only rely upon his guide and believe in his weakness, his guide would be his strength. As the storm continued to rage all around them, the man heard the guide whisper into his ear “You don’t need to know the way out, you only need to trust me, I can lead you to safety”

In that moment the man felt peace in his heart. Yes he was still in the very same storm, but he knew he would make it through the storm, because even in his weakness, his guide was strong enough to carry him through to safety.

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Why is it when our friends face an emotional storm in their life we always want to instruct them on how they can fix the problem themselves

“Just let it go!”

Seems like such simple advice to give someone who is heart broken from a relationship breakdown.

“Why don’t you just let it go, and move on with your life?”

Sometime we spend all our time trying to instruct our heartbroken and depressed friends on how they must lead themselves out of heartbreak and disappointment, and with our best intentions we only cause them to feel more broken. In contrast, the greatest help we can be as a friend is to remind them that within their heartbreak, within their sadness, within their inability to change their feeling and their situation, Jesus is still with them, still loves them, is still embracing them, and is still the one who will save them and heal their heart.

Within the heartbroken sadness they are suffering in, a true friend reminds them that their guide is still with them. Their guide has never left them, and they don’t need to worry about finding their own way out of their emotional crisis, they need only to trust that Jesus is with them. Always remember Jesus. It is Jesus who desires to strengthen our hearts through the storm. It is Jesus, and not ourselves who leads us; not through our strength, but through his grace given freely to us in our time of need.

Jesus is our saviour for our whole life, in this life and the eternal life. When we are unable to save ourselves in any situation, and our friends and family can not possible understand the emotional crisis we are facing in our life, Christ understands.

People will always try to instruct us on how to save ourself, Christ however, shows us his desire is to save us and lead us in his strength. Christ whispers into our ear that we need not try to be the strong one, but to lean upon Him in our weakness, he is our guide, he is our strength, He is always with us, and he will be faithful to lead us to safety.

I pray that I’m always a friend that reminds you that your guide is still with you, and he will lead you through the storm, He loves you, He is with you, when nobody understands, the Lord understands.

“Do you remember you’re not alone?” His friend cried down the phone once more. “Yes I remember!” The man said, he remembered he started the journey with a guide! His friend keep encouraging him “Remember that your guide is still with you! He’s still right beside you, he has not left you! Let him take hold of you hand and he will lead you out of the storm!”

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Faith was not a new concept to Sam; he had been a Christian his whole life. Not a great Christian; not even an average one. To be truthful, he felt calling himself a Christian seemed a bit misleading; perhaps a failed Christian was a title more fitting; a pathetic Christian.

He smoked, occasionally shared his bed with strangers, was a reckless drinker and for years now had secretly felt repulsed by the church; attending only when required by family or a guilty conscious. He had a bible, but rarely opened it; he had failed to live up to any of the religious standards that were drilled into him by his parents and pastors alike.

It was because of these reasons that Sam had tried his hardest to distance himself from God. He had decided years ago to unshackle the yoke of faith from his neck; Sam had reasoned that he didn’t need the extra baggage; his disappointments were heavy enough to carry on their own.

He hadn’t always felt this way. Sam was once an active believer. He didn’t just have an academic, theoretical kind of belief; he had a real belief; he could still remember it. As a child, he had a belief in a wonderful God who loved him and cared for him, but over the years God, for reasons unbeknownst to Sam, began to change.

The God of love turned into a God of rules. God had, unfortunately, become terribly complicated. The open green pastures of faith that Sam freely played in as a child had, as a teenager, become a legalistic minefield he had to fearfully navigate through. Sam could still remember listening, every Sunday, to his pastor proudly preaching the expectations of God; a tsunami wave of laws and spiritual principles that washed away any belief in the God of his childhood; the simple God; the God who loved.

It was this complicated, law driven God that Sam had expected to meet as he stood terrified, eyes clenched and jaw locked, only moments ago. Sam could recall listening to countless bitter messages about the judgement of God and he knew, so he thought, what waited for a person of his lifestyle: fire, hell and brimstone. The fire however, never came.

It was the most incredible of surprises; instead of God’s wrath, Sam was confronted with God’s smile. Instead of being hurled into hell, he was invited to look into heaven. Instead of condemnation being heaped upon him because of his sins, he experienced an abundance of love being poured into his heart. It was a divine paradox; the most wonderful of contradictions.

To Sam’s amazement, instead of coming face to face with the God of law, he found himself being reacquainted with a long lost childhood friend; the simple God; the God who loved.

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They sat down at Sam’s kitchen table. It was old; terribly old. Sam felt the sting of embarrassment as he glanced around his rundown apartment; God, on the other hand, appeared to be right at home. “Sorry about, well, you know” Sam grinned awkwardly, his shoulders raised, neck hidden and hands tucked deep into his trouser pockets. God seemed to be at a loss as to what Sam was alluding to, “What are you sorry for?” God asked. Sam led God around his apartment with his repentant eyes, “For my place being so, well, unclean.”

God smiled, that wild, unrestrained smile, and his eyes danced, captivating Sam, holding his attention; holding him. “You’re kidding, aren’t you?” God asked, “You’re place is clean”, God declared, “It’s great; I might even move in permanently if you ask me to!” God laughed, his eyes pulled Sam onto its dance floor, but Sam wasn’t dancing; he didn’t believe God, “Come on, you’re God, you’re not allowed to lie!” Sam blurted out, only half joking. God took no offence, rather, he seemed to enjoy the banter.

“You’re absolutely right Sam, that’s why when I call something ‘clean’, trust me, it’s clean! It doesn’t matter how often it’s been called ‘unclean’ in the past, the day I call something clean, guess what happens?” God’s eyes were drawing Sam to respond, “It becomes clean?” Sam sheepishly replied, “Exactly!” God triumphantly confirmed, evidently pleased with himself.

Sam glanced around his apartment once more. It was, in his opinion, still terribly unclean. Nothing seemed to be different; there was no sudden transformation, no new furniture, nothing looked any different; that annoyed Sam. He couldn’t let it go, he had to make a point, “I hate to break it to you God, but my apartment is still unclean; look around, nothing has changed.” God stared at Sam; his eyes embracing him, the smirk on his face intrigued Sam. God shook his head jovially as he laughed once more; he responded, “My boy, do you have eyes but fail to see?” The question puzzled Sam; what ever did that mean?

God took a moment to glance around, scratching the back of his head as he gathered his thoughts. He turned once more towards Sam and, with his swaggering grin returning, said, “Actually, contrary to what you believe, something profound has changed; something wonderfully profound!” God’s eyes started dancing around the room in approval until they united once again with Sam’s, he noticed Sam’s look of scepticism and questioned him once more, “You still can’t see it, can you?” God asked. Sam, in totally confusion, threw his hands up in surrender, “See what? I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

Despite Sam’s best effort to create tension, God’s desire for peace reigned. He drew near to Sam, placed his hand on Sam’s shoulder and, looking deeply into Sam’s eyes, opening up heaven for Sam to glimpse. It was only snapshot; a split second, but it was enough to change everything. A revelation awakened within Sam; a simple, glorious revelation had come to life as he listened to God utter the words, “Sam, stop focusing on how you see things, and allow yourself to recognise how I see things; If you allow yourself to see things from my perspective, then trust me, you’ll truly start to see!”

Sam’s jaw hung low, the choir sung triumphantly, the walls clapped with joy. The brass band erupted with songs of victory. The song of heaven played passionately as Sam glanced once more around his apartment; his dirty, old apartment. He smiled, amazed at the reality, “Wow, it really is clean!” he said. Sam’s spirit was awakened; his mind laughed at the irony of faith.

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So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

When we look at the life of Adam, we see the story of the first man, who was made in the image of God. He was a man who walked with God; he knew God. He received God’s command and he understood that God didn’t want him to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, yet he did it anyway; why?

If Adam knew God’s commandment, why didn’t he keep it? Adam walked with God; he loved God; he was made in the image of God, so why did he still break the commandment of God?

It’s because  Adam, who was the first man,  was created in the image of God, but he wasn’t formed with the DNA of God, instead he was formed from the dust. He was made in the image of true life, but his body was formed out of lifeless dust. In the end, this caused Adam a great deal of tension and personal anguish. He was made in the image of God, causing him to know who God was, but his body was formed from dust, causing him to have no power to actually be like God.

Adam was made in the image of life, causing him to have the knowledge of true life, and in his mind he loved that true life, but he was made from lifeless dust, causing him to have a body of death. In Adam’s mind he longed to do exactly as God desired, but because of his body of dust, he was powerless to do it. I’m sure at times Adam must have wanted to scream, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

In the end, having the holy and good command from God wasn’t any help to Adam -except to highlight how powerless he was, in his body of dust, to uphold it.

The Apostle Paul explained in his letter to the Romans how this had actually been a reoccurring problem ever since the days of Adam. He explained how those who were called by God into the Old Covenant were given the Law, with its commands, resulting in them knowing the commands of God and, in their minds, wanting to be obedient, but remaining powerless to be so. This was because, like Adam, they were weakened by the material they were made out of. They may have received the knowledge of heaven through the Law, but they were still powerless to be obedient to it because they were created from the earth. For this reason, those who were under the Old Covenant, from the time of Moses onwards, also cried out in anguish,” What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

The truth is that having the knowledge of God isn’t enough to make someone obedient to God. We need something more than just the knowledge; we need to be created NEW with something more powerful than just dust. To be obedient to God we need to be made with DNA of God. This is where the good news from God entered into the story of mankind and changed everything.

The good news of God’s grace is that through the perfect finished work of Jesus upon the cross we, who have believed in Him, have not only had our sins forgiven, but we have also been made a NEW creation by God. We are no longer like Adam; we are now like Jesus! God, in His abundant grace, made us NEW out of the very DNA of Jesus Himself, for we are now part of His very own body.

Adam had a knowledge of God, but his body was made of dust, and it was powerless to be obedient to God, but we have been made NEW in Christ; not from dust, but from the precious blood of Jesus! It is for this reason that we can both know God and also outlive the Christ life, because we are no longer powerless, for we have the very power of the Almighty God living in us! We no longer live according to the dust the old man was made out of; we now live according to the Spirit that our new man has been made new out of!

It is because of all that Jesus has done for us that we can now walk with God, love God and have the power, that is freely given to us by God’s grace, to be obedient to God! We have been truly set free by the grace of God. That is why whenever someone who is still living under the Old Covenant cries out in self-focused comdemnation, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” We can joyfully answer “Praise be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Praise be to God that through Jesus we have been rescued from the body of dust and have been made a new creation out of the very body of Jesus!

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!“ Romans 7:24-25

For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:3-4

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Mick’s note: Hi all, I have begun working on a paraphrase Bible that highlights the good news of God’s grace throughout all the scriputres. This is a draft of the first chapter. Any feedback, support and encouragement would be appreciated. Thanks, Mick.

Genesis one

In the beginning, God the eternal Father created the space in which the universe would be created. The space was formless and empty. And God said “Let my Son Jesus create!” and Jesus began to create. The Father saw that everything that was created through his Son was good. The Father also had many nicknames for his Son, and one of those was ‘Day’. Every time Jesus completed a major part of the universe God testified that it was all created through His ‘Day’. The Fathers intention was to help all of mankind understand that no matter what has been made in creation, it was made through Jesus.

The Spirit of Jesus entered every part of the universe. He became the power to light the entire universe and became the energy source for everything within creation. Everything great and small was made by him and through him.

According to his Fathers desire, Jesus created the atmosphere in which it would be possible for mankind to live and prosper. No other part of the universe would have an atmosphere so perfectly balanced for the human race to live in throughout the entire universe. Jesus created gravity and all other necessary natural gases to ensure the sustainability of his creation.

Jesus created the entire earth. What began as a formless and empty shell would become a beautiful world that Jesus would soon fill with life! Jesus was the great architect who designed every continent and every nation. He organised for the waters to be gathered to one place to allow dry ground to appear.

Jesus began to create seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it. He began to produce vegetation all over the earth. The land began to produce vegetation: plants bearing seeds according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kind.

The reason Jesus created plant and vegetation with a seed inside it is because one day all of creation would be used as a mankind’s teacher, to help them understand life comes out of the seed. This was an important lesson to learn because just as every plant had a seed within it, so too would every man and woman would have a seed in them, and that seed would be where their life would come from, and that seed was Jesus himself. Although Jesus would be in everyone he created, not everyone would recognise him, but he took comfort in the promise of His Father that one day everyone would know his name.

Jesus created the sun and the moon to give light to the world, and he created the stars in the sky to give light to the entire universe. He created the stars in such a way as to also teach mankind about himself. They were made as lights for the world, but one day Jesus would himself enter creation in a human body and reveal himself as the true light of the world, and the true light of all men.

Jesus began created living creatures to fill the waters. He created magnificent birds to fly above the earth. Every great and small creature of the sea and every great and small creature that flew across the expanse of the sky was created through Jesus. Every detail, every biological detail was thought out and created by Jesus.

Jesus also created every living creature that would roam the earth. He created creatures that would move along the ground, and wild animals. Every living creature that walks the earth was designed and created by Jesus.

After all these things were created and established by Jesus, Jesus then asked his Father “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let him rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So Jesus created man in his own image. In the image of love, truth and life he created them! In the image of God he created both male and female.

The Father blessed them and said to them “I love you all very much. Start the adventure of having children and discovering your world! It’s all yours, please look after it!”

Then Jesus said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” Jesus said this to help teach mankind without the seed there is no life, just as without Jesus there is no life. Without Jesus there is nothing, for he created everything. Mankind may not recognise him, but he still remains the reason that all things exist.

The Father looked over the whole of the universe and inspected everything that his Son had made for him. He found it all good, and when he watched over the creation of mankind he was especially happy. The Father wept. His dream of a family was beginning to take place.

Thus the Heavens and the earth were completed in their entire vast array in and through Jesus. Through Jesus all things were made; without him nothing was made, that has been made.

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